For Sacca, It’s Been Mostly a Sad Saga : College football: Quarterback who will lead Penn State against USC Saturday admits he has been erratic.

Penn State scored a major coup three years ago when it landed Tony Sacca of Delran, N.J., judged by many recruiting experts to be the nation’s No. 1 high school quarterback among a group that included Californians Todd Marinovich and Bret Johnson.

But Penn State and Sacca have proven to be a volatile mix. Sack-a Tony, it has been suggested to Coach Joe Paterno.

Although he has started 16 of 24 games since his arrival in Happy Valley--including the last 10 games of an 8-3-1 season a year ago--Sacca has statistics considered mediocre even for a player who hadn’t been as highly touted.

In his first two seasons, 6-foot-5, 218-pound Sacca completed 38.9% of his passes and threw as many interceptions--10--as he did touchdown passes.

Even in the Penn State media guide, it says, “Sacca has outstanding natural ability, but has to work hard on his mechanics.”

Admits Sacca, who will lead the Nittany Lions against USC Saturday at the Coliseum: “I have been kind of erratic.”

Take last Saturday, when Sacca misfired on all eight of his third-quarter pass attempts in Penn State’s opener against Texas, then rallied the Nittany Lions in the fourth quarter, completing eight of 14 passes for 135 yards on three long drives.

Penn State lost, 17-13, but only after kicker Henry Adkins missed a 31-yard field-goal attempt with 5:16 left and Sacca’s pass from the Texas 20-yard line on the last play of the game fell incomplete in the end zone.

Sacca’s final numbers: 13 for 32 for 243 yards, with one interception.

While not extraordinary, his yardage was a career high. And only once previously had he completed as many as 13 passes.

Why?

When Sacca suggested to a reporter that Penn State’s conservative, ground-oriented approach limited a quarterback’s effectiveness, Paterno invited him to inspect superior statistics compiled by former Nittany Lion quarterbacks with inferior talent.

Still, Sacca said, Penn State’s offense is geared to the tailback, and “you don’t really get to pass until it’s (in) desperation.”

Jim Donoghue, Sacca’s coach at Delran High School, is empathic.

“Their style of play is tough on a quarterback,” Donoghue said. “Their style of play is not conducive to a quarterback looking great. Their philosophy is: No. 1, they’re going to play great defense, and No. 2, they’re going to have a kicking game that’s not going to hurt them.

“And No. 3, offensively, they’re going to wear you down, and in the fourth quarter, the game is going to be theirs. But they no longer have those dominant teams that can just steamroll people.”

The situation, Donoghue said, has created friction between Sacca and Paterno, who is in his 25th season as Penn State’s coach.

“Joe is very demanding of his quarterbacks, with little tolerance for idiosyncrasies or variations in abilities, and I don’t think he’s been very patient with Tony,” Donoghue said. “I think they made a big mistake when they didn’t redshirt him his freshman year, and I think they made a bigger mistake when they didn’t redshirt him last year.

“As a result, he suffered from it, so the relationship has been strained at times. He’s very, very critical of Tony, but I don’t see them doing the kind of things that would give the kid a whole lot of confidence, other than the fact they keep rolling him out there each week.”

Donoghue said that Sacca is more dangerous when throwing on the run, as he did as a senior at Delran High, when he passed for 1,665 yards and 24 touchdowns while completing 54.5% of his passes.

Delran was unbeaten, and Sacca attracted recruiters from around the country, making trips to Notre Dame, Michigan, Penn State and Florida.

He chose Penn State mainly because it was only about a 3 1/2-hour drive from his home on the outskirts of Philadelphia.

After the three quarterbacks listed ahead of him on the depth chart--Tom Bill, Lance Lonergan and Doug Sieg--were injured, Sacca was a starter only four games into his freshman year.

No freshman quarterback had ever started for Paterno, and Sacca, only a few months removed from high school, wasn’t ready.

A starter for five games before Lonergan returned, Sacca completed 37% of his passes for 821 yards and four touchdowns, with five interceptions. Penn State wound up 5-6, its first losing season under Paterno.

Last season, Sacca wasn’t a starter until Bill, cited by campus police for public drunkenness, was suspended from the team.

Sacca, called upon in the third week of the season, passed for only 694 yards and six touchdowns, with five interceptions, but Penn State rebounded to 8-3-1 and outlasted Brigham Young, 50-39, for a Holiday Bowl victory last December in San Diego.

Although overshadowed by BYU’s Ty Detmer, who passed for 576 yards, Sacca enjoyed his best game of the season against the Cougars, completing 10 of 20 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns.

His younger brother, John, also a quarterback from Delran High, was signed by Penn State last winter, so Tony couldn’t have felt too badly about the direction of his collegiate career.

Still, Donoghue said, “I think there’s always a question in his mind (of), ‘What if I’d gone to a place that throws the ball a little bit more regularly and with a little bit more varied passing game?’ ”

If so, Sacca won’t admit it. “I haven’t really had great stats, and some people have been a little disappointed, but I’ve played a lot of games (and) gotten a lot of experience,” he said. “Hopefully, it will pay off for me this year and next year.”

His final quarter against Texas, at least, was encouraging.

“I think he’s getting better,” Paterno said. “He had a pretty good game, really, under a lot of pressure. He’s still not as consistent as I would like him to be, but I think he’s gotten much better, and he made a couple of big league throws to get us back in the game.”

Sacca insists that he has enjoyed his stay at Penn State. “It hasn’t been bad,” he said. “I don’t have any complaints. If things don’t work out in the next two years, then maybe I will have some complaints.”